Revealed: Tube stations worst hit by pickpockets, and their 4,000 victims
Did that get your attention? Does it make you nervous to use the London Tube?
That was the headline on a story in the Evening Standard, Sep 12th, when we were in London last month. My first reaction was wow and then I read the article. Much to do about nothing.
A number of posters on this site, self include, think the whole business of being pick-pocketed is overly hyped. Obviously pick-pocketing is always a possibility so there is a need to be aware and take reasonable precautions but the actually probability is low.
Look at the actually numbers cited in the article. The number was 4,000 victims between February 2015 and 2016. and then broken down between tube lines and tube stations. No mention of the total riders during that same time period. Would like to know what the rate was per thousand riders.
Victoria Station was third on the list at 160 for that year. That is only an average of one theft every two to three days. From searching the Internet the best number I could find for the number of people passing through Victoria Station per day was a quarter million. Having just been there in September, I will believe that number. But just to make the math easier, lets say only 200,000 pass through each day. So if you spend three whole days just hanging out in Victoria Station, walking around, trying to look like a sucker, your probability of being pick-pocketed would be in the range 1 in 600,000 or more. Probably astronomical if you only spend ten minutes passing through Victoria Station each day. Even if you assume high under reporting of theft, the odds are still very, very low.
The number one station was King’s Cross/St. Pancras (Eurostar station) at 215 - less than one per day. Could not find any numbers for the passenger traffic at King’s Cross but if less than one pickpocket per day, what are your odds of being that one. Again, pretty low.
So the take away is - although pick-pocketing is frequently discussion here and the impression given that theft is big problem in Europe, the reality is that your odds, at least in London, of being pick-pocketed is pretty low. And, if you make a little effort to keep your valuables safe and out of reach, relax - your probability of being pick-pocketed should be close to zero.
PS This is the first of a number of observations and reports from our recent month in England and France.